


Malaria Zombies

by EccentricArctic



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 15:47:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9498935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EccentricArctic/pseuds/EccentricArctic
Summary: Tadashi is assigned to correspond Captain America in basic technology training by Professor Callaghan that was enforced through none other than Fury himself. This was to ensure the capture of Bucky while trying to keep Tadashi’s secret relationship with Hiro on the down low. But what happens when the citizens become ill from malaria? Which isn’t just a deadly disease? But why does it turn everyone into zombies?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All rights go to the creation of Marvel and Disney. We do not own the characters or names other than the creative plot itself. This is a collaboration fanfiction for writing practice purposes. ENJOY!~

Tadashi shuffles out of the office given to him by the district which he works under. He looked tired with those bruises beneath his eyes. He doesn’t have his cap with him today due to all the moving and he wished that Hiro was around to help him out even a little. But he couldn’t complain, not now or ever and as an older brother, he had to set an example. But he didn’t know what that example was exactly. Especially when Hiro is going through a rebellion stage.

“No.” He told himself, snapping out of his trance. If he let his thoughts flow, it would only lead him to stress and right now all that was in his mind was finishing the program before the presentation. With a long sigh, he held it before exhaling as he continued on his system that needed much work.

With an exasperated sigh, Steve closed the manilla folder and leaned back into the chair. The contents that it contained wasn't useful for his current side mission. The search for his long time friend seemed to be taking longer than expected and S.H.E.I.L.D wasn’t exactly helping him due to the ‘helpful’ information they kept feeding him. It felt as if he was trapped in a loophole without an escape and honestly, it was suffocating him.

“At this rate, I’ll never get the chance to see him again…”

________________________________________________________

Groaning, Steve Rogers stood up and noticed his eccentric ‘Cell Phone’ blare off from his kitchen counter. Begrudgingly, he walked over and desperately tried to remember how he was supposed to answer the call. He wasn’t too sure if he was supposed to click the green or the red button and his teammates weren’t around to help him remember which button was which. Giving up, he clicked the green button and began to speak to the person on the other line.

“Tokyo? Now? Natasha. You’re not giving me enough time to write this down at all!”

He paused.

“Are you positive that this person will help me find him? Alright. Thanks Nat!”

As soon as the line went dead, he pulled out a piece of paper and began to jot down the necessary information in order to find the person that will help track his friend down. He was sure that this was his ticket home.

“Tadashi Hamada... I’ll owe you one.”

______________________________________________________

Marking down a red brilliant shade of sharpie on the calendar with an, ‘x’ to keep track through all his tasks which unfortunately drag on each day in the hopes it will end sooner, he rubs his temples in conflict between taking his work home and working in the lab located in his garage or enduring another three weeks in here. He admits that this breakthrough in his career would be beneficial for his small family that consisted of Aunt Cass and Hiro, but there were always consequences when devoting his entire energy to his work and that meant not following Hiro to bot fights or clubs now that he was of age. Luckily, those track bugs were always handy.

Tadashi had asked Honey to keep a look out for him whilst he was M.I.A. But sometimes he wanted to be the one to do the big brother job that was entrusted on him since birth, lately, Hiro wanted more than was acceptable which caused him more of a reason to stay away for a while to make sense of things.

Taking a small break, he sat down with an exhausted soft sigh escaping his lips to check his emails only to be surprised to have Professor Callaghan message him, upon opening the virtual envelope, it stated new founded information that required him to teach a ‘Hero’ and not only a hero, but Captain flipping America. Hiro is going to love this.

It didn’t take him long to reply with eagerness to help the other, he wondered how long the task would be enforced, but he didn’t have time to ponder but clean up.

________________________________________________________

Packing up the last of his belongs, Steve didn’t waste his time in calling a special cab to the S.H.I.E.L.D base. The plan that Natasha had thoroughly explained to him was a rather simple, yet difficult task. The person he was sent to had to help him adjust to the modern society whilst assisting him to find Bucky. He had assumed that he had learned the ropes, but Fury and the rest of the team didn’t feel that way, clearly. Grimacing at the small thought of failure, he thanked the driver and stepped out to only see the Quinjet ready for take off. Clenching his portable suitcase more than he anticipated, he jogged on over and went inside to notice that his annoying piece of iron wasn’t flying the jet this time around.

Raising his golden eyebrow in confusion. the assistant turned around and explained to him that Stark had request time off to be with Pepper.  
“I understand… Thanks!”

Offering a small smile, he sat down and placed his suitcase on the ground besides him. The flight ahead of him wasn’t going to be that long. It was merely the fact that he was going to miss his teammates more than anything. Biting his lower lip, his blue eyes settled on the window next to him as he felt the Quinjet taking off to his destination. Closing his eyes, the uneasiness began consuming his already cramped mind as unnecessary thoughts started to form like a wildfire. At the moment, he wasn’t entirely sure how this trip was going to turn out as they all planned or if something was going to go terribly wrong and cause a catastrophic replay of New York or Asia. He opened his eyes once again and decided to sketch in the meantime in order to calm his nerves down.

_____________________________________________________________

“I’m busy. He can do this on his own” Lie. That’s all he has been able to muster up. White lies left and right except he was busy but not busy enough to give hiro a simple call to check up on him. Tadashi couldn’t be distracted right now because if he heard his voice, that soft pleading voice, he will drop everything for him in a heartbeat, “...ugh” without another forced thought from over thinking, he gripped his cellphone and walked inside his lab area, turning the light on to start his routine. It was hard enough to keep his thoughts at ease but his facial expression spoke for itself which he noted in the crack of dawn when he had began getting ready for work.

It didn't take long for his superior to stop by for an inspection unexpectedly, checking every inch of the lab and taking notes which Tadashi assumed was for Callaghan or something. After exchanging a couple of words and signing necessary documents, he continued along, trying to keep busy before exploding from overthinking his genius brains out.

_____________________________________________________________

Within a couple of hours, the Quinjet landed and Steve was forced away from his world once he noticed that the assistant had called out to him. They had supposedly landed in Tokyo and was informed that he had a special gift waiting for him outside. Giving his gratitude, he lifted his abandoned suitcase and wondered outside. His blue eyes widened in surprise as soon as they saw a familiar gleam, it was his precious motorcycle. Picking up his pace, he felt a smile on his features as he placed his belongings in its rightful location and sighed in relief upon seeing a neatly folded map. 

The map had given him thorough information on where he had to go to and all that other good stuff. Once he felt secure on where the location was, he quickly got on the motorcycle and sped off. The many buildings startled him to his very core as he desperately tried to speed up his pace in order to prevent himself from hyperventilating and messing up the mission as a whole.

“Finally…”

He muttered under his breath as he parked his motorcycle at the designated spot and once again grabbed his suitcase. The shuffling of feet padded against the concrete as he headed inside the building and was kindly greeted by a woman who was supposed to take him to his new partner. She had requested him to wait and to take a seat while she made the necessary calls to alert the others that he had arrived.

Letting another sigh escaped his lips, he merely adjusted his hat in order to somewhat hide his face from being recognized by other citizens that were passing by. He didn’t want to risk being seen due to the fact that it would cause a scene and he wasn’t exactly like Stark whom enjoyed being the center of attention. Snorting at his own thought, he leaned a bit forward and rested his face against the palms of his hands as he patiently waited.

_______________________________________________________________

Tadashi shuffled through his blueprints, organizing every single document until something clicked in his head. As minutes passed he failed to notice someone standing in front of him urging for his attention but he decided to ignore it for a bit longer. He didn’t want his ingenious idea to go to waste and especially not now but thankfully the other person obliged for a while however, nonetheless, how could he not hear the sliding doors open with that annoying beeping sound or let alone miss those footsteps inching closer. 

Clearing his throat, he raised his voice louder to grab the man's attention impatiently tired of waiting another second, “Mr. Hamada, Rogers is waiting for you” Mr. Callaghan commented sincerely as he overlooked the others work in progress; feeling satisfied. 

“ah” he unwillingly broke from his trance before meeting the professor's gaze with a warm smile, “i’m sorry, i uh got a little carried away” safe to say he was a bit disappointed to be dragged out of his train of thought but who can keep the hero waiting? surely not him. God forbid the forces to strike him down with a sword or something bible related.

Callaghan called out to his secretary giving her a gesture that indicated to bring him in, “I’ll leave him in your hands hamada, god only knows the brain can take up so much storage before breaking” he joked before departing out into the hallway. 

Tadashi bit his tongue, itching to say he was atheist but that would deduct points from his favorite professor so he kept his mouth shut and nodded feeling a bit contradictory.

___________________________________________________________________

Within a couple of minutes, the secretary had returned to notify him that he can now head to the area he was assigned to as she patted him on the shoulder lightly. Subconsciously shrugging her hand off, he grabbed his suitcase and began to walk towards the office he was supposedly going to meet the person that was going to help him adjust. Casting his gaze to the sights around him, the familiar sensation of his stomach coiling up returned as he found himself picking up his pace.

Chewing his bottom lip, he realized that he was now standing a couple of feet away from the room. His heart was pounding loudly as he felt his feet guiding him past the sliding doors and into a battlefield that he despised so much. Before he allowed his mind to go into autopilot, he allowed his gaze to land on the young man that was sitting on a chair in deep thought. Clearing his throat, he spoke up a bit louder than he anticipated.

“Mr. Hamada? I didn’t arrive at a bad time did I?”

Removing his hat, he simply tucked it under his arm as he stood by the nearest wall in order to comfort his nerves. The wires and the computers that scattered the area seemed to be pulling him into a dark abyss as he desperately tried to make the situation lighter. ‘Calm down… This is the only way I can find Bucky… Keep it together solider’.

It hadn’t taken long for the soldier to make his way into tadashi’s office, why was everyone so eager to teach him basic technology? This thought made him feel guilty for some reason but he shoved the thought as quickly as it came. Deciding to force a foreign smile on his lips, “welcome to my office mr. rogers and tadashi is fine” he stated a bit awkwardly and too fast but in honesty he wanted to get this over with which was partly true. He couldn't help but notice his manners were kinda old fashion in his personal opinion.

“uhm.. so uh.. how are you sir?” right like he could even strike up a conversation with the hero that everyone, oh so admired. ugh. he was already up to his wits with hiro and now he had to deal with this? it was almost like babysitting but he couldn’t understand why someone could have done it. 

Shifting his feet a bit, he placed his luggage on the ground as he merely began to pinpoint the young man’s discomfort like a sore thumb. His mind  
had subconsciously entered an analytical state as he sighed. Fury probably decided to pair him up with a somewhat similar person like Stark, minus the cocky attitude of course. He was extremely tempted to ‘high tail’ it out of there, but his body refused to move from its current position. Curse his manners.

“Tadashi? Then you can skip the formalities and call me Steve then.. That’s if you don't mind of course” 

He paused as he forced a genuine smile on his features.

“I’ve been better honestly.. Once again, I apologize in advance for posing any inconvenience to you”

And there he went apologizing for no reason.

Mentally cursing at himself, he stepped a little ways from the wall he was close to as he glanced around and stared quizzically at the ‘red box’ that was on the adjacent wall. Raising a golden eyebrow and letting a dry yet humorous chuckle escape his lips, he felt like he was going to regret the decision of coming here within a day or so.

“What is that device, I believe, do?”

Scratch that, make that in a couple of hours. 

Furrowing his eyebrows in an arch of rising frustration, he hazily averted his eyes towards the object he was referring to struggling to keep his composure because he was on the verge of exploding. It was one thing to delay his plans of accomplishing his task at hand that was meant to be his breakthrough but it was another to stay on professors callaghan’s good side for reference purposes in the near future. 

Adjusting his cap that he was now wearing in the hopes to shield his expressions of annoyance, he sank deeper into his seat and answered solemnly with a clenched jaw, “it’s a button that alerts others of danger, nothing special i guess but it comes in handy if something happens and stuff” with that being said, he contemplated on where to start as he put his baymax project on halt for a moment. 

Nodding his head in understanding, he turned his gaze to the rest of the mysterious contraptions laying around as he took a seat on the chair that was practically far from Tadashi. Being a super solider and having his crazy abilities in observing people has been a perk of his. He knew that his ‘mentor’ wasn’t happy with the current situation and probably wanted to get this done and over with. Steve had eventually stuck to the thought of pretending to understand to get out of his hair sooner. It was literally the only option he had to get himself home and to find Bucky.

“I see…”

Crossing his legs appropriately, he continued.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”

Taking out an old fashioned notebook, he placed it on the lab table as he patiently waited for Tadashi to speed through everything like he predicted. He just hoped that his team wouldn’t ask him any questions regarding his visit. 

UNBELIEVABLE. This guy could have easily passed for his grandparents if he knew them but last time he checked, nobody used a notepad to scribble information down on. Sighing, he forcefully pushed himself off his desk chair and walked over in his own pace towards the drawers built as chargers to boost battery for technology and it contained a couple of tablets for his own personal use but it wouldn’t hurt to loan the man one. 

“here, use this instead. it’s the latest version and i think it would help more than that.. notebook.” he commented hoping he didn’t sound too spoiled or rude.

He walked around his desk, signaling captain to his direction with a wave of his hand, “i am currently working on building a new system browser called baymax which is upgraded in every sense of the word and mostly used for medical or military purposes rather than public use if i may add” tadashi continued lecturing his recreation becoming lost in his own words, he was mostly summarizing what he had already done to keep himself updated rather than inform the hero but he couldn’t help it.

Grabbing the tablet that was just handed to him, he mumbled a quiet ‘thank you’ as he followed Tadashi to the other side of the room. His mind was desperately trying to wrap around the concept many times, but failed at every turn. He was able to at least get sense of this program he kept speaking about and was racking his brain to remember how to work the tablet that suddenly felt heavy in his hands. He couldn’t recall if Stark told him to press the ‘Messages’, ‘Notes’, or ‘Photos’ in order to get to that ‘app’ version of his actual notepad.

Steve automatically ruled out ‘Photos’ since it was common sense, so he chose the latter option which was ‘Notes’. Before he was able to process what he actually clicked, he realized that he was indeed in the wrong app. It was too late for him to speak up and was probably going to irritate the young man more than he intended to. 

The only legit option he had left was to play it cool before Tadashi realized that he wasn’t necessarily following along. 

‘Great… I just dug myself a grave that I can’t personally get out of.’

His eyes had landed on a certain bolded name ‘Hiro Hamada’ that literally had more than 22+ on the side.Furrowing his eyebrows, he noticed that there was a small amount of words underneath the name. ‘Tadashi… why are you avoiding me!?’ 

After a moment of pause, he glanced at the man messing around with tablet in what seemed like profound confusion and this made him frown causing the corner of his lip to twitch in vexation from the lack of attention, “are you with me so far steve?” he asked already knowing the answer to his question which was practically rhetorical. 

Pulling his cap lower than needed, he walked over to him in curiosity realizing the other wasn’t responding to him, “knock knock captain?” he asked unamused by the distraction. He would have expected this from his close friend fred or let alone hiro but a military guy? really? what was he? five years old? ugh.

“excuse me, i don’t mean to be rude sir but we are on a tight sc-” he cut off when he looked over his shoulder, jaw half dropped at the invasion of privacy. Without taking consideration of the man’s feelings, he snatched the tablet away from him in one quick gesture, throwing away politeness down the drain and washing it away with an inflared tadashi. 

He clenched at the tablet with dear life and before he could conjure up an insult about keeping his curiosity up his ass, he was rudely interrupted by his best friend hauling inside his office without the audacity of KNOCKING. 

Fred had gotten at least a couple of calls from hiro in desperate need to get a hold of tadashi and what was a best buddy in the world to do? that’s right, barge in and tell the scientist, “oh man, hey there tadashi! i didn’t know you had company!” he stated as he walked inside and took note of it in a relaxed tone as he raised his arm up to fist bump the man.

A bit startled by the sudden yank, his composure was hidden well as he then realized that he was caught. Steve knew that he messed up, but the other individual that was in the same room saw it in a different light. He probably perceived him as a snoop or something probably worse. Letting his arms drop to the side, he kept his blue eyes locked with Tadashi in the hopes of fixing things before it escalated.

“This was all a misunderstan-”

Before he was able to finish his sentence, the door to his right opened as a another young man approached them calmly. Gnawing the inside of his cheek, he forced a polite smile on his features once again as he stuck his own hand out in a friendly gesture. He wasn’t accustomed to the whole fist bumping thing, he found only it as a compassionate gesture to his teammates once they finished a hectic mission or at least that's what Stark and Natasha told him after the battle of New York. 

“Steve Rogers, it’s a pleasure to meet you”

Grunting at the change of events, tadashi quickly made note to remove any apps that would consist of his personal life in display even if it meant messages here and there. And his ultimate secret was in front of him, his taboo relationship with hiro which he agreed was unhealthy but he had no time to reevaluate his perspectives and views on the matter. Instead, for the time being he settled for deleting any trace of messages, contacts and skype. 

“its nice to meet you man, i’m fred! i work next door and right now i am totally building this fire breathing dragon that will blow your mind away! dude, you need to check it out!” fred exclaimed in excitement as he forgot his purpose to begin with but having steve listen to him encouraged the guy and tadashi wasn’t having it. nope. not today.

Tadashi placed the cleaned tablet on the desk, leaving the memo app open for notes as he sighed in exasperation beginning to grow more drained by having to communicate with people than he was able to, “fred! how about another time? i’m busy right now and i can’t be interrupted” was that it weird to answer for captain? ugh. he didn’t care right now and his change in attitude lately wasn’t changing any time soon either.

Seemingly getting lost into the information that Fred was giving him, he found himself being reminded of Bucky when they were young children. They both had a similar personality of excitement which made Steve smile as if Bucky never slipped past his grip. The memory of watching him walk away after saving him during their last battle practically ripped him apart. Shoving those thoughts in the back of his mind, he snapped out of his trance as soon as Tadashi kicked his friend out.

Scratching the back of his neck, he apologized for what happened earlier as he promised to give his full attention in order to grasp the concepts at a faster rate. What was supposed to be a few hours of explanation and teaching, turned out to be a long haul throughout the night. Every given detail that was shared was now buried deep in his memory as he was finally able to understand the basics of modern technology. Leaning into the back of his chair, he stretched his sore limbs until he felt blood circulating in them again.

Sighing, he glanced at his partner and realized that he had fallen asleep without realizing it. Being a super solider didn’t necessarily require him to sleep at all just like a regular human would. Feeling the guilt rise in his stomach, he quietly stood up and grabbed his abandoned jacket to only place it over Tadashi. He felt that waking him would be rude and he didn’t want to cross anymore lines.

Leaving the lab, he took the route that Tadashi had shown him earlier to their personal yet shared quarters as Steve took the opportunity to take a quick shower and prepare an american breakfast so they both can eat.

Lightly snoring into oblivion, he had lost track of time within a matter of seconds; growing bored of hearing his own voice fill the lab. The entire night consisted of explaining what his program usage was for but he never once asked why steve was assigned to learn such trivial things, after all, he was a trained military captain soldier for crying out loud. So why computers? programs? or anything related to that? He was positive there was a higher intelligence that mastered all of this that connected to anything top secret and much more effective than his ‘in-progress’ creation. Despite his recent stubbornness, he reluctantly continued to teach like some professor but he didn’t realize sleep had creeped on him without warning.

‘..dashi.. what’s going on?’ whined a six year old Hiro as the ambulances sirens filled the deserted road leaving two cars crashed against each other in an unnerving manner.

“come one Hiro, it's going to be alright” he reassured, picking up his younger brother and scooped him up into his arms protectively unable to figure out why he was bleeding; quickly scanning hiro for any injures.  
Soon his eyes followed the trail of blood that lead back to his parents vehicle, and before he could run towards them to help them out, his mother screamed for him stop before she mouthed out what seemed like, ‘i love you’ only to watch the car go into flames, leaving him to scream out in agony.

Waking up, he jolted upright into a petrified position, pinching the bridge of his nose in astonishment while trying to control his breathing that had gone haywire and it didn’t help that he was a sweating mess. Something heavy made his warm body feel unbelievably hot than it already was.

He moved about and yanked a jacket resting gently on him only to shove it to the seat on the right where a missing hero had occupied it a while ago. was it a while ago? he couldn’t remember how long he had been sleeping, but he knew the sun was beginning to rise. This made him instinctively shuffle through his jean pockets in search for his cellphone.

_____________________________________________________________

Finally after eating his breakfast, he sat on the nearest couch and pulled his luggage towards himself. Opening it, he pulled out the familiar manilla folder he was checking earlier before Natasha had sent him over here. Flipping the flap over, he began to remove and add papers thanks to the help of Tadashi’s mentoring. He was now able to search for the places or the information he needed from the safety of his cell phone without having to contact Fury.

‘If Jarvis couldn’t crack the code, I’m more than sure that Baymax can do it..’

He thought to himself as he vividly remembered Stark explaining to him that Jarvis could only do so much after their last battle a couple of months ago. Especially since he practically is a breathing being and no longer a computer based program. Fury wasn’t letting him use their technology either since they believed that Bucky couldn't be found after so long anyway. Slamming his hand on the table at the thought created a minor dent as he left the folder behind and ran outside to get some fresh air.

He wasn’t going to give up on finding him. Not yet. Even if it meant betraying S.H.E.I.L.D.  
_____________________________________________________________  
It didn’t take long for him to send a quick text that held to its expectation as an older brother trying to keep the boundaries in order for hiro’s sake if there were any; but it was mostly to sustain aunt cass from worrying since they were all family. He had left since the incident and leaving in bad terms with hiro caused cass to stress more and keeping their relationship at bay. ‘if only she knew’ he thought.

‘morning knucklehead, hope you are putting that big brain of yours to use’

Send.

Tadashi didn’t expect a quick response considering he had been avoiding hiro to straighten out those jumbled up thoughts that were causing him to be a jerk in many ways. Frankly, he didn’t like it and he knew this bit of information but how could he calm himself? yeah, there was no way in hell he could at this point.

Stuffing his iphone back into his jean pocket, he stood up wincing at the aches around his body from that uncomfortable sleeping position which was the dumbest thing he had done but he was used to falling asleep in his workplace. Stretching with a yawn, he walked out of his work place and into the kitchen for some coffee only to notice someone had prepared him breakfast, “...kiss ass..” murmuring to himself in a half-hearted smile of appreciation. He deliberately took a seat not wanting for the food to go to waste.

This gave him the advantage to pick his brain for the pile of work he was obliged to finish today, there was no catching a break during this crucial month. Taking small bites from his plate, he calculated that today was a wednesday and once every week there was a test run for his project that honey lemon constructed herself. That fact made tadashi’s day a bit more enjoyable as he took a sip of pre-made coffee laid out for him and he could have sworn that steve was out to make up for yesterday's event.

Noticing the time, he stood up composed and collected as he picked up the dishes to place in the sink only to be distracted by a file on the counter. Instead of placing the dishes in the dishwasher, he grabbed the folder and opened it curiously wondering if it was his or was misplaced by fred which was no surprise since the guy had a keen of losing important things.

He scanned the documents thoughtfully, careful not to miss any information provided due to his OCD but it was more than that now. These were the unspeakable papers that contained background to steve rogers companion which he had heard of through museums when he took hiro way back.

“this is wrong.” he whispered as he closed it and placed it back but what was so wrong about it? he felt guilt and curiosity shoulder his weight as the pros and cons came into motion. however, it was too late now, he knew. he knew, he knew and for the love of pete’s sake he knew. dammit.

_____________________________________________________________

What felt like minutes turned into hours as Steve leaned against a wall at a random park he managed to run into. His heart was loudly ramming against his chest as he allowed himself to slip down and relax after all that running. Covering his face with the palm of his hand, he felt his mind drift in and out; wondering if he could possibly do this on his own. It wasn’t long until his cell phone began to vibrate from his pocket as he pulled it out and answered.

“Steve, where the hell are you?! If it weren’t for those tracker bugs that Stark placed on you, we would’ve lost all contact!”

Oh the familiar sweet, yet venomous voice he adored so much.

“Does it matter Natasha? I’m on a rough patch right now. Can’t this wait?”

“Fury will be pissed if he finds out that you aren’t where you’re supposed to be, I’ll be sure to get him off your back. For Now.”

Pause.

“How are you holding up Spangles?”

Allowing a soft chuckle he realized that his whole team was practically worried about him and decided to make this weird ‘Two way’ or was it ‘Multiway’ call? Great. Another rhetorical question he had to ask Tadashi about later.

After the call had ended, Steve stood up from his position and took his sweet time to return to his temporary headquarters. He wasn’t sure if Tadashi or his supervisors would be infuriated about his absence, but if they were, he’ll just sprout out a white lie. Stepping into the familiar hallway, the doors automatically opened as he wandered to the kitchen and noticed the abandoned folder. Practically frozen in his spot, he immediately rushed over and made sure that everything was in order whilst stashing it in a safe place for future reference. Although at some point, Steve planned on telling Tadashi his real intentions once they cross over the thin bridge they are on. He wanted to make sure it was stable enough in order to share the topic.

Once everything was in its rightful place, he once again took a quick shower and walked down the hallway that lead to the lab to meet up with Tadashi.

It wasn’t out of character that tadashi had taken his coffee to his workplace or that his mood was intensifying in all the right places given the state of his current mentality. The stress was now a forgotten melody in a song, the anxiety was crumbled within a matter of deep breaths and now he felt relieved or maybe it was mischief that crawled around him this morning in particular.

“sleep well captain? you’re going to need it.” he stated coolly as he took another sip out of his mug as he leaned against his desk, one hand tucked neatly into the rim of his jean pocket whilst crossing one leg over the other casually. almost too suspiciously.

Narrowing his eyes at Tadashi a bit analytically, he realized that something was off about him today. Just from yesterday’s encounter, he was able to pick certain traits and habits from him with body movement and gestures. Crossing his arms, he debated whether to confront him about the folder or not. It wasn’t necessarily Tadashi’s fault, but mainly his for leaving it out in the open so irrationally. Deciding on questioning his extremely suspicious act amidst their conversation, he also felt the need to throw in white lies. His attitude could also be from his tardiness or absence this morning and practically all afternoon.

“I don’t need any sleep, you on the other hand do.”

Pause.

“How did you spend your day while I gone? I’m positive that you managed to find a unique discovery while I was gone?”

Bingo. The question wasn’t exactly straight forward, it was perfect to see if he would react a certain way towards it. Muscle tensions or a sudden movement of discomfort would surely be his answer. If the cards were played right.

Scoffing at the sudden interrogation, he set his mug down on the desk with a thoughtful pace. “whoa whoa, no rush on the, ‘hey good morning to you too’ steve” tadashi glanced at him from under his cap with a observing gaze as he walked over to open his system to continue where they left off.

“how about rejogging my memory on last nights lecture” he demanded as he deducted little things from his project that might capture the missing person captain has been tracking down that apparently was a masked criminal if he may add.

Uncrossing his arms, he kept his guard and stuck with the idea in throwing in general yet specific questions regarding the folder later. Without further hesitation, he began to lay out the details that Tadashi had thoroughly taught him the night before as he felt the corner of his lip curl in victory. All that hard training he placed the night before paid off and was feeling pretty damn happy about it. Natasha had a real reason for sending him here in the first place and it was making him realize that she knew this was going to happen.

“Need me to elaborate more? or was my explanation enough to make you remember?”

Leaning on the table adjacent to where tadashi was at, his mind began to drift off without realizing it as he started to think of how quick he could devote his time in finding Bucky. It was main priority to get through this quickly.

“I’m assuming your program is next right?”

From what he managed to cram into his mind last night, he knew that ‘Baymax’ had more intellectual information compared to Jarvis. Then again, Stark had only focused on having his program calculate certain things while Tadashi’s was more general and more useful. He had a feeling that they would clash if they were to meet. Two geniuses in the same room is like having a world war with their differences of ideals. Although, he was extremely grateful to both parties, he knew that in the long run, he owned them more than he can imagine.

Shrugging, he nodded in indication of his full attentive focus towards the subject; not wanting to undermine him due to his one day training. At least the guy caught on rather quickly for someone who is foreign to this generation, “for the next week i will be teaching you how to take apart the motherboard as a basic task.” tadashi felt the need to correct him at each turn.

Captain America was here to help him resolve some intricate maneuvering and modifications on his project but he obviously couldn’t expect much from the lack of knowledge and teaching him the basics was all he had going at the moment, “this can help you make sure no one tampered with wires” he interjected. 

Nodding in agreement, he felt like this would be useful when it came to dire situations with bombs or anything similar to that matter. He was beginning to learn things that he couldn’t grasp before as he knew that he was playing a huge role in Tadashi’s project as well. He felt as if he was going to test out for loopholes or to basically notice if something had gone wrong during the process. Personally, he didn’t mind since he had some basic knowledge on it when it came to Jarvis or helping Doctor Banner with the Hulk Busters while Stark was away for a while.

“It shouldn’t be much of a problem. I’ve had some fair share of experiences with it. So we will breeze through this quite quickly”

Pulling out the tablet that Steve had now personally claimed as his own, he adjusted himself quite comfortably as he once again prepared to listen to the long lecture ahead of him. But this time, he planned on interrupting the lecture for snacks and breaks since they didn’t do that the night before.

“i think you should keep in mind that this won’t help for major usage, you’re better off hiring someone” way to be a jerk about it but he didn’t see any harm in it as he shuffled through the flood of messages hiro had sent him which was becoming tedious since neither seem to budge in this tug of war.

‘i’m busy, quit pestering me bonehead.’ 

‘dude, come on, how long is this going to go on for? i mean fred said all you are doing is babysitting some old guy’

‘hiro, i taught you better! can’t you wait?’

‘NO! i’m getting bored by myself and i miss you! plus nerd school isn’t the same without you so how about you hop on that scooter and come swoop me off my feet like prince charming?’

‘unbelievable.’

Send.

He was too caught up with these texts that he had completely disregarded the hero once again for the third time yesterday and today, “i uh, forgot to snatch a motherboard..” he murmured as he glanced around the lab in search for one realizing wasabi had probably taken it for his own usage. ugh. the nerve of not bothering to ask.

Tadashi was too caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice his feet escorting him out the sliding doors of his lab and into the hallway towards the general direction of his friends workplace.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Resorting without any options to wait he decided to let himself in after a moment of contemplation because i mean they always let themselves into his lab without knocking, so why should he wait? he walked inside only to witness honey lemon smooching up wasabi like the fourth of july and this made him cringe in surprise at his dearest friends sharing bodily fluids, “...why me?!?” he asked as he closed his eyes instantaneously, raising both his hands in peace.

“sorry sorry! i should have knocked but i was kind of in a hurry! oh man oh man oh man” he didn’t bother asking for the motherboard, as he quickly made haste to scurry out without another thought because he was probably more embarrassed than they were.

UGH. there goes his chance to date honey. ‘way to go tadashi’ he thought to himself as he dragged his cap across his face beaming a dark shade of red at the sight. He definitely didn’t want to see wasabi pinning honey lemon against the wall and shoving his tongue- UGH UGH UGH.

Unable to erase the images he rushed towards his lab, “steve, i don’t know how to say this but the task will be…. uh hold up for another day..” he murmured under his breath as he tossed his cap onto the desk.  
____________________________________________________________


End file.
